Device for separating the magnetic transducer and record member during rewind



July 10, 1951 J. B. SHICKEL 2,566,254

DEVICE FOR SEPARATING THE MAGNETIC TRANSDUCER AND RECORD MEMBER DURING REWIND FiledMarch 26, 1948 INVENTOR JAMES B.SHI HIT. BYh

ATTORNEY Patented July 10, 195.1

Nx-lFlTE-D. PATENT 2,560,254

TRANSDUCER? eA'ND' RECORD MEMBER' -DURING annwnvn James=3."*ShickeL-f-Baldwinsville, N. Y, assignor.

to -Radio-Oorporation of America, a corpora.-

,AQpIicationMarQh-ZG, 1948, serialiNor-l'7 q2-22;

"2 "Claims; (01. 179-1002) .This invention relates to ma etic s und: recordin and. repr ducin ap aratus of' t e vtype mployin .reelableriwire o pe e or s and has pecial. rei rence t improvements .in el g sy tems for su nrecords- Modern ma netic phonog aphs, a d especi lly those capabl of handlin very ong r r usually. provided witha reelin system ca o being run. much more. ranidlvinth r -Win direction. than in. the .forward i di o eproducingldirection. When t epa ofthe record isthe same iinhoth. dire ti ns he W p nthemagnetio. transducers (i- ,ethe erasing recording and reproducingwheads is, obviously, much-greater thanis. ithernecessary r desirable... Ithas therefore previous b e proposedhtominimizesuch wear bvithe provision O a. retractable mechanism .for lif ing th re ord me iwnfie-, -tape or. Wire) .ofi the transducer duringthe rewindin interval. The me h ni ms heretofore provided .for thi p pose h vek n the formof .a carriage, ,orroller mounted, as on arack, for. movementintoeorout of. liftin .engagement with the record. vThe. objections to such record-lifting mechanisms. reside not only in their expensive and indeed cum ersome construction butinthe fact that they are ,not fselfclearing and, hence may be, left, inadverten ly, with the carria e vor roller .in ca position other than that dictated -by thedirectionin which the record is .to .run.

Accordingly, itisan. ob ect of. the presentinvention to provide a simple, inexpensive and troublerfree mechanism .tfor shiftin the p th of a -reelablehmagnetic. re.c ord medium away from thesound-heads or, magnetic transducers of. a recording OrreQrQducingin rument durin the re-wind interval, and one which operates. automatically.,torestoretherecordto its normal path ('1. e. contiguous the magnetic transducers). when the record is driven in the forward (recording or' reproducing) direction.

Another and related object of the present invention is to provide a lifting mechanism for a ree1aio1e::magnetic :record medium which shall the responsive both to the forward 'andi-tothe re-wind". directions of. movement..of.said record.

The invention'is described in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is. a -frontelevation of '-a record-lifting and guiding mechanism constructed in accordance with the principle of the invention and showinga reelable taperecord medium in its raised position between two spaced apartomagnetic transducers Whilst the record is being rewound.

Fig. Zisa viewofutherdevice of Fig.1 showing how the lift mechanism is-eautomatically restored to .its. idle :position when the record medium is run in the .for-ward.-recordingor reproducing-direction.

Figt .3 :is .a .top plan .view for the ."lift arm '1 of Figs. Land 2.

vFig. .4 .{is .a .front. .elevation of ran 1 alternative embodiment.oftheinvention, showingzagdualvlift mechanism for .a phonograph; havin three-ma netic transducers, and

.Ei'g. .5 is a ,front- -elevational.-- view of at different embodiment. of the in-vention -whereinthe; opera ion of. the. record-flittin emeehanism *is con-"- trolled. isolely iby thedirectioneof movement of the-reelablerrecordemed-ium:

1n the-embodiment ofaathe. invention :shown in Figs. .1, .2...and 3, --l 'and 2 designate, respectively, twospaced apart magnetic-transducers-.orsoundheadseagainst wh-icha reelable magnetic "record medium,.-,exemp1ified byrtherpaper or p1astic) tape record .3 is {caused to :beariduring its dourneyiin .the forward (playing .1 or reproducing) direction between-Ma =storage'zree1 anda takeunreel .-5.. {I -he: ree1ing-.-motorroremotors :-(not shown) :may. be-i-of any convenient typeandzin agreement with the preferred practice, :may v:be arranged .to. drive i the tape more rapidly in the re- -wind- ,direction.than-.in .the-rplaying .:or reproducing. direction. As -'previously indicated; :i-n order to minimize friction and .00I1SQQLient"Wear upontheesound-heads .l.-and.2 and -upon--tthe tape orother--ree1able record medium 3 the *present invention..provides-meanswindicated generally at Gi -for supportingxtheqreoord =medium 3 sofi the sound-heads :Land-Z while the record is being run in the return direction; -i. e.- :between the take-upreel fi and the storage-;recl- 4,-as.indicated by the-arrows invFig. .21.

,In the; preferred embodiments-of 2 the; invention which have been-selected lfOI illustration :the

record-lifting mechanism-r6 .serves .'I1Q13':on1y"-t0 upport the-record medium ":3 durin the rewind ing. interval ;(as rshowmin Fig. ;1) but also servesas. a guidefor, preventing-undesired lateral movement of therecord-while i-it is beingsrun in :the forward direction(shownin-sEig;2 'TOftlliSEfiIld, the said mechanism .-:comprisesa' shoe ;1 having a flattenedecylindrical basei or core portion 8, int a :Width somewhat greater ithan :that' .of the tape g or other record medium; and 'a pair of.:opposite1y located-flange :po11tions49 and In which extend above the fiattened-sides and rounded ends of the core to define -=a groove or track fonthe record. medium. This groove or'track is lined, as indicated at II, Fig. 3, with a wear-resisting frictional material such as felt or flock. The shoe 1 is mounted upon a pivot l2 in the space between the magnetic transducers or sound-heads l and 2 and, when the record is being run from the storage reel 4 to the take-up reel 5, rests on one of its long sides upon a pin or stop l3 so that the record is received in and is guided by the longitudinal portion of the groove of the shoe.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the front surface of the pivoted shoe I is provided, adjacent to its free end, with a pinion or knob I4 so that it may be swung upwardly on its pivot I2 to lift the record 3 off the magnetic transducers l and 2 when the record is to be rewound upon its storage reel 4. A protuberance 15 on the lower or pivoted end of the shoe 1 engages the stop I3 when the shoe is in its raised position. The shoe is maintained in its raised position, with its protuberance l5 against the stop I3, so long as the record medium is being run in the direction of the storage reel 4, by the force exerted upon the frictional surface ll of the shoe by the moving record medium.

One very real advantage of the pivoted recordlifting mechanism of the invention resides in the fact that the record medium is automatically restored to its normal path contiguous the magnetic transducers 2 and 3 as soon as the tape is driven in the forward direction (shown in Fig. 2) The restoration of the record to its normal path occurs by reason of the tilting force applied to the shoe I through its frictional surface H by the'forward movement of the record medium.

the shoes 23 and 24 may be maintained in their upright position simply by moving the yoke 21 to the right and holding it there against the bias of the spring 29.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 5 the position of the pivoted record-lifting shoe, which is here designated 30, is controlled entirely by the direction of movement of the reelable record 3. Here a light-weight spring 3| con- When the invention is applied to a magnetic recording and reproducing machine having three (instead of two) magnetic transducers, it is preferable to provide a record-lifting shoe between adjacent ones of the transducers and to provide a suitable yoke mechanism for actuating both shoes simultaneously. Such an arrangement is shown in Fig. 4 wherein the record 3 in itsjourney between the storage reel 4 and the take-up reel 5 traverses a path defined by three magnetic transducers, comprising an erasing head 20, a recording head 2! and a reproducing head 22, each disposed at an angle of, say 13-15 with respect to the next adjacent transducer. Here one shoe 23 is pivotedly mounted in the path of the record between the magnetic transducers 2| and 22 and the other shoe 24 is pivotedly mounted in the path of the record between the magnetic transducers 22 and 23. The force required to lift the tape ofi the transducers during the re-wind interval is applied simultaneously to both of the shoes 23 and 24 by two actuating arms 25 and 26 which are connected together by a yoke 21. The yoke is shown mounted for slidable movement on a panel or bracket 28 and is normally biased, as by a spring 29, to a position whereat the shoes 23 and 24 are in their lowered or idle position. Movement of the yoke to the right against the force of the spring 29 moves the shoes upwardly where they remain so long as the tape or other record medium is being rewound. As in the earlier described embodiment of the invention, movement of the record 3 in the forward direction causes the shoes 23 and 24 to drop back to their idle position and automatically restores the record to its normal path contiguous the magnetic transducers 20, 2| and 22. If it is desired to run the record in the forward direction out of contact with the transducers (e. g. for the purpose of reaching a selected portion of the record) nected between the shoe 30 and a bracket 32 beneath the pivot 33 tends to move the shoe to its upright position, but the biasing force of the spring 3 l, is overcome by the tilting force applied to the shoe through the wear-resisting frictional lining II by the forward or the reverse movements of the record. When the record is being re-wound upon the storage reel 4 the shoe is urged against a pin or other stop 34 on the side adjacent to the said reel so that the record is maintained off the magnetic transducers 35 and 36 throughout the rewinding interval.

It will now be apparent that the present in-.- vention provides a simple, inexpensive and trouble-free mechanism for shifting the path of a reelable magnetic record medium away from the sound-heads and other magnetic transducers of a recording and reproducing instrument during the rewinding interval, and one which operates automatically to restore the record medium to its normal path contiguous the said transducers when the record medium is driven in the forward (recording or reproducing) direction.

What is claimed is:

1. In a reeling system for sound translating apparatus of the type wherein a reelable record medium is adapted to be moved in either of two directions past a transducer in a path normally contiguous to said transducer, a device for moving the medium out of said path away from said transducer, said device comprising a record medium contacting member mounted adjacent to said path for limited pivotal movement, means responsive to the direction of movement of said record medium for developing a torque by frictional contact between said member and said record medium for rotating said'member about its pivot to move said member from one to the other of two positions, and means including said member for moving said record medium out of said normal path upon rotation of said member to one of said positions and for restoring said record medium in said normal path upon rotation of said member to the other of said positions.

2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 and characterized by the addition of biasing means associated with said record medium contacting member whereby frictional contact between said record medium contacting member and said record medium may be maintained.

JAMES B. SHICKEL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 

